Psychotic Episode 9: Shattered Home
by Glod
Summary: Jay and Flash return to Jay's previous foster home to follow up some clues, only to find a not-so-welcoming party.
1. Spies

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Justice League/ JLU

**Pyschotic**

**Spies**

"I need something awesome to happen … right…about…_now_!" Jay looked hopefully up at the giant screen in the control room, and waited expectantly.

Nothing happened.

_You didn't really expect that to work did you? _

"No, but it would have been nice." Jay answered out loud, so bored that she couldn't even be bothered to worry about someone overhearing her talking to herself. "Night shift is the most incredibly dull thing in the whole wide world."

_Why don't we spy on Superman or something?_

"That's a ridiculous idea." Jay responded, nevertheless glancing at the controls and trying to figure out how one would go about doing so.

_Why, who would you prefer to spy on? _Psychotic chirped in with her two cents worth, causing Jay's other self to snort in amusement.

"No Psychotic, the ridiculous thing is not that Jay wants to spy on Superman, but that Jay wants to spy at all."

_I do not see why it is so ridiculous. It surely cannot be worse than just sitting up here staring at nothing. _

_Oh! Oh! Oh!_

"Hold up Psychotic. It appears a brilliant new idea is about to burst forth!"

_Just shut up and do as I say! _

Jay let control of the body flow out of her for a minute while her other self hit a few buttons and entered a password or two. When she got control back, she looked up at the wide screen and settled back into the businesslike office chair. Up on the screen the satellite shifted round to focus on Central City, then zoomed down… and down… a little to the right… and then focused on a little flower shop on the corner of two busy streets.

"Uh… how is this an improvement?"

_Wait for it! _

Suddenly a man sized red streak passed straight by. The satellite honed in on it and followed the streak as it proceeded up to Main Central and took a left at the Starbucks. Happy bystanders waved hello as the flash of red sped by, taking corners at reckless velocities, considering that to the best of Jay's knowledge Flash had no way of knowing the streets were clear around the corner.

_Uh hello, the guy's reflexes work at the speed of light. What do you think are the odds that if there was someone around the corner he'd crash into them?_

"I don't know. Let's make a bet. I bet he hits someone at some point tonight."

_Hah, that is one bet you're never going to win! _

_I must agree with Jay. The Flash reacts too quickly to do something as clumsy as hitting someone._

Jay smiled and settled back to keep watching Flash run. About as interesting as watching paint dry, but with the bet going on things were slightly more entertaining.

Especially as Flash was getting in to the seedier part of town, an area Jay knew pretty well from being bounced around foster homes in that area for quite a while. Flash went by the mall where they'd first found Jay going crazy, then he sped by her old school, where he stopped for half a second and frowned up at the run down, graffiti covered building before zooming off. He took the next right, sprinted across the old park where the swings all creaked, made two lefts and then zipped up a little used side street and came to a stop right in front of a poky little link house, with the paint peeling off the door.

Jay leaned forward and took a closer look.

_Is it just me or is that house really familiar? _

"Yeah, it's old Maggie Lawrence's house. We used to live there, till we came here."

_What on Earth is Flash doing there?_

"Never mind Flash, why's the door open? Maggie was militant about shutting everything up by 10.30, remember? She locked us out a couple of times and refused to open up to let us in again."

Flash appeared to find the door a little odd as well. He ran quickly up to the door, but stopped just short of it, and quietly nudged the door open a little, taking a look inside. Whatever he saw can't have been good because he slammed the door open and took two steps into the house, unfortunately taking him out of the satellite's scope.

"Well, hell. Can we override the comm system and switch his earpiece on without him knowing?"

_Sure. But we'll have to be really quiet, it's a two way system._

_I have not been in this world long, but in so far as you have taught me about your 'morals' I believe that is not entirely acceptable? _

_Psychotic, everything is acceptable in the pursuit of information._

"Especially when we're obviously connected to it somehow!" Jay added, keying in the override that would give her access to the conversation in that house.

" – this ain't none of your business, superhero, so get lost." The mean growl came in mid-sentence over Flash's open link. He'd obviously disturbed some strangers in the house.

"Oh come on guys. Is that any way to run a party?" Flash quipped in response, clearly trying to distract the man.

_Come on, come on! Give us a clue about what's happening!_

"Run this!" The stranger barked, his words finishing on a round of shooting which drowned out any other sound in the room. Jay could just imagine Flash dodging the bullets with ease. The gunfire stopped suddenly, there was a crack that sounded suspiciously like a gun breaking a nose; a deep grunt of pain and then a soft rustle as someone fell unconscious to the ground.

_Or at least, that's what it sounds like. _

There was silence, followed by a scraping as of something being shifted on the floor. More silence, the sound of a door being swung open. Then: "Sweet! Mardi Cakes! I haven't had one of these in years!"

Jay dropped her forehead into her hands. Flash was an idiot!

More rustling over the intercom as Flash opened the sweet wrapper and continued to wander through the house.

_I wonder where old Maggie is? _

_Maybe she's away again? You know she goes off on those holidays all the time._

_Sure, holidays. Whatever. _

More background noise, no clues at all as to what Flash was doing. Jay listened as hard as she could, trying to figure out where he was and what he was doing.

Eventually it seemed he'd made it back to the living room, because there was a rustle as Flash murmured "Well, let's see who we've got here." Which Jay took to mean that he was searching the unconscious man's pockets for any kind of identification.

"No ID? Shame on you! What if you'd wanted a drink after work?" Flash's voice held a slight hint of irritation under the flippant tone. "Why don't we take you in to the police station and see what they've got on you? Breaking and entering to start with, obviously."

_Seriously, why do superheroes talk to themselves all the time? When we do it everyone thinks we're crazy! _

There was a barely audible grunt as Flash lifted the stranger, and then he was suddenly back on screen carrying a bulky man over his shoulder. The stranger was wearing solid black- a sweater on black trousers, with a leather jacket on. The guy's hair was all mussed up as if he'd been wearing a hat –

_Ski mask, probably._

And in his other hand Flash was carrying the semi-automatic the guy had been using. On his way out, Flash pulled the door shut behind him, and then he was speeding off, probably heading for the police station.

Jay sat back in the seat, leaning her chin on her closed fist as she watched Flash zip across to the police station. Maybe the police would be able to get something out of the guy, but judging from the looks of him, he was a professional, so probably not. With a sigh, Jay leaned forward and cut the comm link with Flash, then switched the satellite tracking back to world monitoring. That seemed to be all the information she'd get tonight, and they'd have to figure out a way to find out more from Flash.

_Preferably without admitting that we were spying on the guy. _

"True. But you know, I was right."

_You were?_

"I told you he'd hit someone."


	2. Deception

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Justice League/ JLU

**Pyschotic**

**Deception**

Jay sidled up to Flash as he piled his plate high with pasta at the canteen buffet. She held her tray in front of her, having thrown on a boxed drink and some salad leaves to make it look like she was actually there to eat. This was the easy part, the hard bit was figuring out a way to start a conversation with Flash. It didn't help that up until now she'd shown nothing but hostility to the guy, so how was she supposed to make it seem like she was just starting up a casual conversation? He'd have to be an idiot to not figure out she was up to something.

_Oh I have an idea! Let me take over for a bit…_

Jay gave a mental shrug and surrendered control of the body. This was one thing she would rather not have to do anyway.

Jay shook her head and stretched her shoulders back as she took control, getting accustomed to having the body. She really ought to do this more often; she got so out of practice between times. Having the body was never that big a deal for her, not being a control freak like her sensible self, but still she ought to be a bit more comfortable in it. She was just so used to being able to think her own thing and not have to worry about mundane things, like walking.

_Speaking of which, Flash just headed for a table. _

Whipping her head around Jay took note of which direction Flash was heading, while blindly reaching out and scooping the first thing she saw onto her plate. Quickly picking her tray back up she hurried after Flash. To her relief he was having a loner day and had settled himself down on an empty table. She picked up the pace before someone else joined him and ruined her carefully made plan.

_Carefully made? You thought it up three seconds ago! _

_I believe it has been slightly longer than three seconds._

_Psychotic, while you may be technically right, the concept I was going for was that this is not a well-thought out plan._

Mentally executing a snobbish head toss worthy of a princess, Jay refrained from explaining herself to the voices in her head. Focusing on Flash's table, she took a deep breath as she approached, plucked up her courage, pasted a smile on her face and then walked right up to the table and pulled out the chair right next to Flash.

"You don't mind if I sit here, do you?" Jay asked in her most cheerfully friendly voice.

The look Flash gave her was comical. Caught with a forkful of pasta halfway to his mouth he stared up at her in disbelief, his jaw hanging open. A piece of pasta fell off the fork and landed with a splat back on his plate. Jay just stayed where she was, her expectant smile fixed firmly in place.

"Uh… sure." Flash finally collected himself and shuffled his tray a little to make room for her.

Jay grinned her thanks, put her tray on the table and settled into the chair. "I know this must be pretty weird, but I thought I'd come over and say hi while the other Jay is AWOL for a while."

This statement didn't appear to put Flash at his ease, instead causing a confused frown to appear on his brow. Nevertheless Jay powered on.

"I just wanted to let you know that all of us in here don't have it in for you!" Jay paused to let him absorb that. "It's just, you know, my sensible self – she's a bit screwed up in the head, if you know what I mean."

From the look on Flash's face, he was thinking that her sensible self wasn't the only one who was a little screwed up, but he was too polite to say anything.

_Polite? Flash? He's probably just trying desperately to catch up with the conversation. _

"So, uh, just to prove there's no hard feelings on my part… I really hope you're not going to hold a little misplaced anger against all of us?" Jay did her best to look lovable.

_You sicken me. _

"And it isn't really Psychotic's fault that she kind of went all, like, psycho. It's all just the magic- it's a little messed up. Ok, it's a lot messed up, but you know Psych's coming along really well. She's almost normal these days. Although she doesn't have a sense of humour that's worth squat- I mean seriously. She can't take a joke at all."

_My sense of humour may not be up to your exacting standards but, unless I'm mistaken, it is impossible to find out information if you are doing all the talking. _

_Psychotic has a point you know. Stop babbling and ask some probing questions or something! _

"And Psychotic's no good at building rapport with people. No social skills at all, but you can't really blame her, she's been buried away for so long. Now the other me, she has no excuse! You'd think she'd have learnt by now how a conversation is supposed to go!"

_It's supposed to go "I said then he said" not "I did all the talking and didn't let anyone else get a word in edgewise"! Would you please stop not-so-subtly telling us off and find out what the hell the Flash was doing at our old house last night? _

Jay smiled beatifically at Flash and recapped what she'd just said. It would probably help if she'd link all of that to something that made a little bit of sense. Flash was looking rather bowled over at the moment.

"What I'm trying to say," – a look of relief suffused Flash's features at the prospect of getting some sort of translation – "is that I'd like to be friends. And you shouldn't pay too much attention to the other me, because she's got unresolved issues." Jay smiled expectantly at Flash.

Flash shifted in his seat and set his fork down, having not moved it from the moment Jay had started talking. It gave him a second to figure out what had just happened. As he understood it, Jay wanted to be friends. In fact, that's about all he'd understood. Well, who was he to complain if a pretty girl wanted to be friends? As the thought went through his mind, he turned his most charming grin on Jay.

"Hey, I'm always happy to make a new friend!" Flash offered his right hand for a handshake to signal his sincerity. Jay happily shook his hand, unable to suppress a little laugh of relief. It would have been mortifying if her plan hadn't worked.

Having shaken hands, they both turned back to their plates and ate a few bites.

_Well genius, now what?_

_I'm working on it. _

Jay cleared her throat. Flash looked up expectantly. Jay smiled her friendly smile at him. Flash smiled back. Jay tried desperately to think of something to say, but came up blank. Flash tried desperately to think of something to say, but came up blank. Slightly embarrassed they both turned back to their plates of food and continued eating.

_Oh yeah, this conversation is just flowing. Like a river, seriously, it's beautiful to watch. _

_You know, all this sarcasm is really not helping. And I'd like to see you get even this far. _

_I do not feel arguing will help at this stage. Perhaps suggestions for conversational topics? I understand the weather is considered a universally accepted subject? _

"So, the weather's been pretty… um…" Jay trailed off, realizing that actually she hadn't been planetside in about a month, and that really there wasn't any weather to speak of up on the Watchtower. "It's been interesting to watch." She finished lamely.

_Nice save. Not. _

"Well, it hasn't been so great down in Central City." Flash answered, clearly relieved to have any excuse to break the awkward silence. "It's been really miserable and cloudy. It'd be nice to just have some rain and get it over with!"

Jay nodded agreement. Unfortunately she couldn't think what to respond to that so she just smiled and went back to her plate. Silence fell like a ton of bricks.

'_Silence fell like a ton of bricks'? I do not believe I have heard that phrase before. _

_The way this silence is falling, Psychotic, I'd say the simile is apt. _

Jay cringed at the commentary in her head. They didn't have to be so damn unhelpful!

_Aha! I got it! I know how to save this! Let me take over!_

Jay gladly gave up control to her sensible self, relieved to be out of that conversation. So maybe her plan hadn't gone as well as she'd hoped… she'd gotten them this far! Really, how much more did they want from her?

Jay stiffened slightly as she took control, moving every so subtly away from Flash while at the same time hoping he didn't notice her slight change in attitude. She didn't think she could achieve quite the bubbly cheerfulness of her other self, but for the sake of keeping him from being suspicious, she'd have to try…

"It wasn't that cloudy last night though, was it?" She asked in a high pitched sing-song voice.

_I do NOT sound like that! _

Evidently Flash agreed because he gave Jay the most you-are-crazy look she'd ever received in her life. And considering this was her, that was saying a lot. She could feel the blush tinting her cheeks, and sent up a prayer of thanks for having skin dark enough to hide it. Luckily Flash seemed happy to go with the conversation.

"Yeah, we had an hour or two of clear skies in certain parts of the city last night." He answered, obviously a little curious as to how she would know such a thing.

_I'm thinking that maybe telling him we were watching via satellite isn't a good way forward._

"It was rather dull on night watch last night. I was looking up weather patterns for a while." Jay offered the explanation hoping it didn't make her sound too weird.

_We passed weird about ten minutes ago, and we're still accelerating. I'd give up on seeming normal if I were you. _

Flash relaxed with this explanation. Possibly because Jay had given up trying to sound all chirpy and just reverted to her normal voice hoping he didn't know her well enough to tell the difference between her other self and her.

"It made a nice change." Flash went back to eating as he talked, his voice settling in to the easy tone of a man used to being liked. A shot of jealousy went through Jay, but she squelched it before it could mess things up. "It's the only time I went out. Kind of a bonus when you're the fastest man alive- you can get out and be back before the rain starts up again!" He said this with a mischievous grin which sent a little flutter through Jay. The corners of her lips quirked into a quiet smile which she couldn't help.

_You might want to smile a bit _more_ actually. It's going to be really obvious you're not me if you don't! _

Jay clenched her teeth at the reminder. She'd forgotten that she was supposed to be her other self. Widening her smile, she asked her next question. "You're so lucky having a city to go back to, even if the 

weather does suck. I mean I was stuck up here watching the weather! It would have been nice to have any kind of errand to run!"

"Oh I wasn't running errands!" Flash laughed across at Jay, who's only thought was '_snap_'.

"Oh?" Jay raised her eyebrows in what she hoped was a manner that depicted that she was interested in what he was doing for purely innocent reasons. "Did you have some trouble down in Central City last night?" All innocent, as if she didn't already know the answer.

"Well, I wouldn't say trouble. Actually, I'd been meaning to ask you about something."

_Ok, I bow down to your superior interrogation skills. _

"Sure." Jay smiled invitingly at Flash. "Anything you want to know. We are friends after all!" And if her teeth gritted a little over the word 'friends', well, he'd never know.

Flash revived that charming grin. Jay gritted her teeth a little harder. She was _not_ going to fall for that smile…

_Eh? What? Hold up. _Fall_ for that smile? _

_Can we concentrate on the matter at hand, please?_

"Yeah, I was in your old neighbourhood last night. Actually not so much in your neighbourhood as actually in your old house…" Flash paused to see how she'd take this information. Jay just cocked her head. "There was someone there and he didn't exactly fit in. I mean, I could be wrong, but I'm assuming you didn't regularly have hired guns running around the place when you lived there?"

"Hired guns?" Jay tried to look appropriately alarmed. "Where was old Maggie Lawrence?"

"That's the thing. She wasn't there, but this guy had obviously been rooting around in her stuff. I took him down to the police station, but he didn't have anything on him and we couldn't get any information out of him. Do you know if there was something in that house that someone would be after?"

Jay shrugged. "It was just a rundown old house when I was living there. I guess I could tell you if anything was missing, but I'd have to see the place to know for sure…" Jay left that incredibly leading statement unfinished.

"Hey, that's a great idea!" Top points for Flash, he sure knew how to take a hint. "How about I meet you at the teleport deck in an hour and we'll go down and check it out?"

Jay nodded agreement. "That's fine. I'll see you in the control room in an hour!" Jay collected her cutlery and stood up, since she'd just about finished her food anyway, and this seemed as good a time as any to make a graceful exit.

_No social skills, huh? _She thought as she headed out of the canteen. _I'd like to have seen you do better! _

Nothing but disgruntled silence filled her mind. Jay smiled the smile of the recently triumphant and headed to her room to change.


	3. Homecoming

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Justice League/ JLU

**Pyschotic**

**Homecoming**

Flash watched as Jay sauntered out of the canteen looking rather pleased with herself, unless he was very much mistaken. Why, he had no idea, and if their recent conversation was anything to go by asking her wouldn't result in a particularly intelligible answer. Still, he was pretty glad she'd come over to him, since he'd been trying to figure out a way to talk to her about what had happened last night at her old house.

And boy was he glad she hadn't asked him what he'd been doing there. He didn't think she'd take kindly to knowing he'd been trying to find out more about her.

Finishing off the last of the food on his plate he collected the tray and dropped in on the trolley as he sped out of the canteen. If Batman had got the message, he ought to be waiting…

Flash barely made it to the meeting room in time to position himself leaning back on the table in the most casual pose he could adopt before Batman stalked in.

"Punctual as usual, Bruce. I know I can always depend on you!" Flash grinned at Batman who glared back.

"Come on! A little light humour never hurt anyone!" Flash was determined that one of these days he'd make Batman smile. So far he'd had nothing but failure in this mission, but he wasn't one to give up so easily.

"What's this about Wally?" Batman cut right to the chase, obviously not in the mood to mess around. When was he ever?

Wally sighed. "Y'know, I miss our long conversations and heartfelt chats. Whatever happened to us?"

Batman's only response was an impatient growl.

"Fine, fine." Wally shrugged, then straightened up. His expression turned serious. "I was back in Jay's old neighbourhood last night, just poking around. Turns out I wasn't the only one with an interest. There was this mercenary there. I didn't get much information out of him. I just heard back from the police at the station I took him to- seems he was busted out earlier this afternoon. The only thing I got was this." Flash held out a thick man's ring to Batman. It was silver, with an etched insignia on an oval back on the top. "I couldn't trace it to any organization or anything, but I figured that's because I'm no good at that sort of thing. You got any ideas?"

Batman took the ring and brought it to eye level to have a closer look. "I'm going to have to run this through my database, but it seems familiar. I think I've seen something similar… I'll contact you when I know more."

"Thanks, Bats!" Flash gave Batman a cheesy finger-shooting pose to show his appreciation. It was impossible to tell behind the mask, but he was pretty sure Batman rolled his eyes. "Well, if that's all you've got, I'm meeting Jay to head down there and see if we can figure anything out."

Batman raised an eyebrow. "Jay?"

"Yeah, you know her. Pretty, tall, dark hair, goes Psychotic once in a while?"

"The memory is returning to me." Batman answered drily. "Be careful. She has a bad habit of getting into big trouble."

"Hey, she's with me! What could possibly go wrong?" Flash grinned, before speeding out.

Batman shook his head and followed at a more sedate pace.

--

Jay stood by the teleport controls in her Psychotic outfit, little skirt, bare midriff and all. She still couldn't say she was overly fond of it, but Psychotic and her other self adored being in it. Jay still found it slightly uncomfortable and couldn't help being a little self-conscious about walking around like this, but the other two were hugely resistant to any changes in the costume.

_Hey, at least we don't make you wear as little as Wonder Woman does. _

_Indeed, Jay, judging from what I have observed on the watchtower one might be inclined to suggest we are _over-_dressed. _

"Over my dead body are we ever going to wear _less_." Jay growled _soto voce_.

"Well now, that's a damned shame."

Jay whipped round, as Psychotic channeled magic, lifting them an inch off the ground in preparation for defensive action.

_Dudes, chill, it's just Flash. _

Jay could have died of embarrassment, especially as Flash gave her a once over with a heartfelt sigh. Her discomfort rocketed up, and she reacted by snapping her eyebrows down in a frown and glaring at Flash. It didn't help that her other self was giggling in pleasure in the back of her mind.

"You can just stop looking at me like that, thank you. I'm not a piece of meat!" She snapped.

"Hey," Flash backed up a step and put his hands up in the universal signs of surrender. "I didn't mean to offend you. I was just trying to compliment you."

"Well you can stop. It's unprofessional." Jay replied with a toss of her head, turning to key in the coordinates for Maggie Lawrence's house into the teleporter controls.

Flash mumbled something behind her back.

Jay whipped her head round to give him an especially fierce glare. "What was that?"

_It sounded a lot like "I vote we bring the nice Jay back please."_

Jay's other self giggled even harder in the back of their mind, smugness radiating out from her area. Even Psychotic was exuding an aura of amusement, which wasn't really helping Jay keep a hold on her temper. Bad enough she had to spend the afternoon with the Flash, now the voices in her head were teasing her too?

"Nothing." Flash looked like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth as he stepped on to a teleport pad. "You coming?"

Jay frowned suspiciously but let it slide. Taking the pad next to Flash, they sent out a tendril of magic to activate the controls. The next second they were phasing in to the front yard of Maggie Lawrence's beat up old house.


	4. Aggression

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Justice League/ JLU

**Pyschotic**

**Aggression**

Jay tried to keep her expression from giving anything away as she looked up at the old house where she'd lived for about six months. In her entire career in foster care she'd never managed to stay up to six months anywhere, except with Maggie Lawrence. Old Maggie Lawrence had been really weird. A woman of about 55 years of age, she'd looked ten years older with her tanned dark skin and the nest of wrinkles that covered her face. She'd obviously spent a lot of time in the sun when she was younger, but Jay had never been able to get any kind of information out of her. Not talkative at the best of times, they'd gone days sometimes without saying a word to each other.

The creepy thing about Old Maggie was the way she used to watch Jay. Like she was expecting Jay to do something, and wanted to catch her at it. Jay never had any idea what, but it had made her especially tense to know she was under such close scrutiny. They'd had a hell of a time keeping the magic under wraps when Jay had been so on edge that a clink of dishes in the sink could make her jump. In the whole six months she'd been there the only times she'd ever relaxed had been when Maggie went away for a week at a time. Not that those had been particularly pleasant times- Maggie was so suspicious of having her stuff taken that if she wasn't in the house she'd lock every room except Jay's. Jay had even had to eat out - breakfast, lunch and dinner- because she couldn't get into the kitchen.

Even when Maggie was gone, Jay had the feeling that she was being watched. Once she'd even gone so far as to check her room for hidden cameras or microphones, but she'd found none. The paranoia had just added anxiety for Jay.

_Yeah, what with voices in our head if we'd added in delusions of persecution we'd be positively schizophrenic! _

Jay had spent enough times in pro bono psychiatrist's offices to know that she never wanted to be there again.

Flash came up beside her and gave her a funny look as she stood there stock still staring up at the house. "You all right?" He asked.

It snapped Jay out of her reminiscence. Glaring at Flash for having caught her in a weak moment, she just growled out a "yes" and strode up to the door.

"Chill, I was just trying to be nice." She heard Flash mumble behind her back, but chose to ignore him this time. She couldn't help being antsy, this place just gave her the creeps.

Keeping one step ahead of Flash, Jay made her way to the front door and tried the handle.

"Locked." She informed Flash, before narrowing her eyes on the keyhole. Her eyes took on their tri-coloured hue as Psychotic channeled a tendril of magic, shaped it to fit the lock, twisted and –

"We're in." She grinned over her shoulder, her three toned voice laced with triumph. This was when they all felt their best, working so closely together that they were as close to being one person as they could get. It felt special, being this close to two other people.

_There's something inherently crazy about that sentence. _

_I disagree. It made perfect sense to me._

_Yeah, but you're Psychotic. And while we're on the topic can I just point out how confusing it is that our collective name when we're being a superhero is Psychotic, and your name is also Psychotic? Makes it sound like you take over when we do our hero thing._

_Jay, you really think this is the time to go in to this?_

_Indeed, Jay. I agree with Jay. Incidentally, I deplore your hypocrisy. _

_Touché._

As Psychotic, she floated through the now open door. Maggie's low watt bulb barely illuminated the corridor. As usual when Maggie wasn't there, every room door was locked.

_Not that that's going to stop us now! _

With a grin Psychotic maliciously unlocked every single door in the house simultaneously. Floating into the front living room, where Maggie used to spend most of her time, she took a look around. The room looked unused, a layer of dust coating every surface. Maggie had never been the cleanest of people, but this was too dirty even for her. The dust lay completely undisturbed except by the breeze Psychotic made as she floated in. Flash walked slowly in after her.

"Anything missing?" He asked, casting a disgusted look across the room.

Psychotic shook her head. "When was the last time anyone saw Maggie Lawrence?" Three voices asked the question in perfect time. Flash raised an eyebrow before answering.

"I don't know. There haven't been any police reports for a missing person, or for any disturbance in the neighbourhood. In fact, as far as they're concerned up until last night there was nothing at all suspicious."

Psychotic nodded, then floated back past Flash, brushing close by him as she passed him to get to the door. A frisson of awareness went up her spine as she hovered within an inch of touching him, but Jay resolutely ignored it.

_Hold up. Frisson of awareness? _

_Concentrate. _

_Yeah but… first you say he in a she-brain, then there was 'fall for that smile'_ _and now 'frisson of awareness'?_

_Help me out here Psychotic, can you make the idiot pay attention to the matter at hand?_

_Indeed Jay, you seem unnecessarily preoccupied with Jay's stray thoughts. _

_They're just interesting thoughts is all I'm saying. _

Jay pulled their collective attention forcibly back to the house they were in, snapping them back into their 'Psychotic' mindset.

_Ok, please tell me you all found that as hilarious as I did._

_Concentrate, dammit! _

A cursory glance at the ground floor rooms had indicated nothing out of place, as far as she could tell, and they were already halfway up the stairs, Flash following closely behind. On the second floor landing she spent a necessary five seconds unlocking the doors up here. Preliminary glances into the rooms showed nothing. Unable to resist, she hovered along the landing to the last door on the left, nudging the door open. Pausing in the doorway, she scanned what used to be her room.

_Ho-ly crap. _

_I find it difficult to believe that you two would live in such a mess. _

_We didn't Psychotic. This definitely happened after we left. _

The room was a tip. The cupboard had been haphazardly emptied across the floor, the drawers were all pulled out of their frames and their contents strewn across the bed. The mattress was half pulled off the bed, the sheets ripped off and thrown over the rest of the mess.

_What were they looking for? We left nothing in here. _

_Are you two sure?_

_We didn't have anything to leave, Psychotic. _

Behind them, Flash had caught up and got a look at the room. He let out a low whistle. "Wow, what was in here?"

She shrugged. "Used to be my room." Psychotic floated in a few feet, keeping herself suspended above the mess, trying to pick out a pattern in the chaos. "I only left clothes, school stuff, that sort of thing. Don't know what they would've been after."

_Do you hear something?_

She cocked her head, making a slow turn in the room.

"Do you hear something?" Flash asked, a frown marring his features as he looked around the room.

They both held perfectly still and silent. A very quiet high pitched whine had started in the room, over which came regular beeping. One every second, but speeding up.

Flash figured it out way before Psychotic could have. "A bomb!" He shouted, speeding to Psychotic, grabbing her round the waist then legging it for the front door. They just made it past the threshold when the whole house went up in a ball of flames with a rumble like the gods burping. Psychotic threw up a shield to protect them from the heat as they were thrown across the street to crash against the fence of the house opposite, which promptly collapsed under their combined weight.

They lay still for a minute, as the heat dissipated and the ground stopped rumbling. As soon as it seemed safe to, Psychotic dropped the shield and Jay took full control again while the other two retreated in shock. Her wide chocolate brown eyes stared incredulously up at Flash where he was stretched out above her, shielding her with his body. They were both breathing hard, and Jay could hear her heart beat frantically in her chest.

"What…?" She barely managed to breathe out.

Flash shook his head. "I have no idea."

"We… uh, should probably get up and investigate."

_Might be a good plan. _

Jay took a deep breath, aware of how close Flash was to her. His face was inches from hers, their breath mingling as they calmed themselves down. She couldn't tell where he was looking, his mask hid everything from her, but the tension between them built as they lay in silence. She could feel her heartbeat speeding up again, this time not from shock, and the thought galvanized her into action. She opened herself up to the other two, feeling them fuse with her, distracting her from the direction her thoughts had previously been going. Flash pulled back slightly as her own eyes changed colour again.

_Psych, are you hearing this stuff? Speeding heart rate? Frissons? Am I the only one here able to smell the smell of impending gossip? _

_I do not think this is the appropriate time, Jay._

_I'm just saying, if it'd been you or me, our heart rate would've been just fine. _

_Do be quiet, Jay. And if it is not too much trouble, could we please concentrate? _

Psychotic channeled enough magic to gently lift Flash and herself up to standing. She set Flash back down, but remained hovering and quickly scanned the area. Following the explosion, an eerie silence had settled on the neighbourhood.

_It's really deserted out here. Isn't that a bit weird? _

_Yeah. _

Flash seemed to be having similar thoughts as he looked around suspiciously. They held still for a moment, listening carefully.

_It sounds like there's something in the backyard._

Psychotic cocked her head for a better listen. They couldn't see the backyard at the moment since the house was in the way, but there was a soft rustling coming from back there.

_Sounds like people packing up to leave. _

They wouldn't have heard it if it wasn't so quiet otherwise. A quick glance over at Flash made it clear that he hadn't picked up on it.

_I am using the magic to enhance our hearing. This is probably why we hear and he does not._

_Huh. I didn't even know we could do that Psych. _

_Well I simply extend the magic and look for disturbed air particles which I focus in on and –_

_Yeah, whatever Psych. I didn't want a lesson. _

Flash looked over and opened his mouth. Psychotic gave a sharp shake of her head and brought a finger up in front of her mouth, indicating to him to stay quiet. Then she pointed to the still smoking house. Having no clue if he'd understood, she then levitated straight up to roof level. The roof of the house had collapsed in on the right side of the house, but on the left was still there in bits and pieces. What little cover it provided, she used, continuously shielding herself from the heat of the smoldering house. Flying over the roof, she looked down into the backyard.

A team of three men were collecting handfuls of small cloth bags and throwing them in to a sports bag. Each man wore some variation on the black shirt/ black jeans combo, with close cropped hair and wraparound sunglasses obscuring their eyes.

_Bit late in the evening to be wearing sunglasses, don't you think?_

Psychotic looked back at Flash and pointed down to the back of the house, hoping he got the message. Apparently so, because in a second he was amidst the team of men who froze, dumbfounded, as Flash appeared before them.

"Aw shucks, you didn't think I'd miss all the fun, did you?" Flash grinned winningly at the men, who launched themselves backwards, dropping whatever they were carrying and reaching for the guns they each carried on their backs. Before any one of them could get to his, Psychotic had snapped the guns off them, using the magic to crush the weapons before they could do any harm. Surprised by their sudden lack of weapons, all three men still reacted in seconds, clearly trained for just this situation. One 

sprinted backwards, bringing his sleeve up to his mouth while the other two attacked Flash. Psychotic left Flash to deal with them and targeted the third, flying down from the roof.

"Requesting backup, gamma team down!" The third black-clad man was growling into what had to be a microphone on his sleeve. Psychotic didn't stop long enough to let him give any more information. Putting on a burst of speed, she used her momentum to deliver a kick so hard it sent him into the back fence where he slumped unconscious.

Psychotic looked around to where Flash was finishing up with the other two.

"Don't let your guard down!" She yelled at Flash.

"Why? We got these guys!" Flash answered, a frown of confusion marring his brow.

"Yeah, but I think this one just called for backup." As she finished the sentence, the steady growl of a helicopter engine became audible above their heads. "See?"

"We can handle them." Flash sent her a cocky grin, as the helicopter noises got louder. He'd barely had time to finish the sentence before a stream of heavy machine gun fire ripped through the house, and but for his light speed reflexes, would have ripped through him too.

Without thinking further Psychotic shot straight up in the air, intercepting the helicopter just as it came over the house. She threw up a shield as more gunfire came straight for her, the heavy bullets bouncing straight off while she sent a bolt of pure magic aimed straight for the helicopter rotors.

The chopper dipped and swerved, neatly avoiding her bolt.

_How on earth did they do that? Can choppers move that fast? _

_I wouldn't know._

_It was a point blank shot!_

Psychotic didn't have time for more thinking before the helicopter came back at her from her left, forcing her to send up another shield as they took more shots at her. She sent back a volley of her own, but there was some pilot in that seat because he dodged her bolts as if the helicopter was a playful kitten instead of a however-many-tons machine.

Psychotic launched herself backwards as the helicopter kept coming for her, trying to get some distance between them so she could think. This clearly wasn't any ordinary technology. If she had super strength she'd just fly at it and crush it, but that was hardly an option. But maybe if she boxed it in…

Before she'd finished the thought six walls of magic made an enlarged cube around the helicopter, which tried to shoot its way through. When the gunfire didn't make a dent on the lilac walls of magic, the chopper just hovered, giving Psychotic the opportunity to start bringing the walls in closer. If she could just get close enough to knock out the rotors, she could get the whole machine on the ground and the crew unconscious and that would be the end of that. But the constant firing of the chopper's gun 

kept a lot of outward pressure up on the walls she was trying to push in, and it was a lot of force to overcome.

A shout from below distracted her momentarily. She held the magic but stopped shrinking the cube while she took a look down. There was a scene of chaos on the ground. The backup must have been pretty nearby. Another team of about 20 men had joined in the fray, and while Flash was doing a good job of holding them back, they were obviously well trained enough to be giving him some trouble.

_Deal with the helicopter first. Then we shall aid Flash._

Psychotic pulled her attention back to the helicopter and redoubled her efforts, shrinking the cube as fast as she could. They'd have to run out of ammo soon, surely? They were firing so much, so fast… they'd need to have filled up that entire helicopter with ammunition to keep this up! But at the moment they weren't letting up. If there was just somewhere she could set down so she wouldn't have to waste magic keeping herself flying… but that wasn't an option with the chaos down there.

_Just concentrate._

She was so focused on her goal that she didn't hear the warning shout Flash sent up, and it took her a minute after she was hit to realize what had happened. Something slammed into her from her right with such force that it sent her hurling across the neighbouring houses so fast that all she could see was a blur. She didn't have time to react before she was falling to the ground, still stunned. She landed in an ungraceful heap, hitting the soil so hard she left a dent.

_Ugh. What was that?_

Psychotic sat up and shook her head to clear it. She'd learnt very quickly in her simulations that a close body shield was a useful thing to have up, and luckily she'd trained herself to surround herself with one as soon as she accessed the magic. Otherwise that blow might have hurt a lot more than it had. Looking around she saw the small missile that had been launched into her side, lying on the ground beside where she'd fallen.

_I'm surprised they didn't use an exploding one. Surely that would be a little more certain to do the job?_

The sound of the helicopter above her brought her back to the present. Looking up she realized she'd lost her cube when she'd lost her concentration on it, which was singularly irritating. With a glare, she set it back up again, blocking the helicopter back in.

The chopper hovered again, and then – it moved. In a flash of blinding white, it just moved.

One minute it was in the cube, the next it was hovering in the sky behind her, leaving an empty purple box floating in the middle of the air.

_That teleporter! It must be the same guy! _

_The energy signature is indeed the same. _

Psychotic let the cube collapse before hurling a few bolts straight for the underside of the helicopter. As before, the chopper just swerved out of the way. The movements were almost graceful, surprising for such a cumbersome looking machine. With a grunt of frustration, Psychotic launched herself straight for the chopper, hoping to get close enough to make it impossible for her to miss.

The helicopter sped away from her. With a barely suppressed yell of anger, Psychotic followed, speeding up to catch up with the chopper.

_Hmm. Didn't know we could go this fast. _

Psychotic just sped up more. Within seconds they were back over Maggie Lawrence's house, where the chopper swerved round and came up behind her in a graceful arc. Psychotic pulled herself up short and twisted round, aiming a bolt which the machine just dodged. Below her, Flash was down to about 15 men who were still putting up quite a fight. A few more men were around the periphery of the back garden, dragging wounded mercenaries towards a convoy of Jeeps lined up just behind the now demolished back fence. The bags they'd initially come for were nowhere to be seen. Psychotic glared at the cars and sent a few bolts to crush a few of the vehicles before the helicopter sped for her, rotors first. Hopefully that would slow them down a bit.

She flew herself out of the way of the chopper, then implemented her latest idea. Instead of a bolt of magic, she sent out ropes, throwing them haphazardly around the helicopter and letting them tangle into the rotors as they fell. With a grin of triumph she 'pulled' with the magic, tightening the ropes around the spinning blades. A few really ominous noises creaked out of the chopper as the rotor blades started to slow down. A little more and they'd stop, sending the blasted thing crashing into the ground where she hoped it would smash to pieces.

Instead, it moved again. A flash of white that nearly blinded her, and the motors sounded behind right behind her. She didn't have time to dodge before the helicopter blades smashed into her, on catching her from the back and swinging her round in an arc before she was thrown off to crash into one of the deserted houses across the road.

_Where the hell are all the people? I'm sure there were neighbours when we were here._

_Not the time! _

This was getting ridiculous. Between the crazy movement of the helicopter and the teleporting, Psychotic was having a hard time coming up with a way to stop the damn thing.

_I suggest you get moving, the 'damn thing' is coming back! _

Psychotic sent an irritated glare up at the fast approaching helicopter. Flying at it didn't work, shooting at it didn't work, tangling it up didn't work –

_Is it not electronic?_

_Duh Psych. How do you think it keeps those blade things turning?_

_I only mention it because if I am correct does the magic not blow out electronics if you have a surge of power?_

_Psych, you are a genius. _

Psychotic glared up at the machine as it approached. It hovered directly above her, a good twenty feet up, high enough for it to react if she did anything, but too far for her to get close without their noticing.

_How much of a surge can we manage?_

_A lot. Psych has a lot of magic holed up. _

_Here goes._

A deep breath in, a calming of her heart beat, then Psychotic just let loose with all the magic she could, sending a pulse of magic straight out in all directions, tinting the air lavender as it radiated out. Even if the chopper saw it coming, there was so much magic in every direction that it wouldn't be able to dodge.

The wave went right through the helicopter, shorting every circuit as it passed through, causing a series of blow outs that randomly set off the guns, sent the lights flickering, stopped the rotor blades, and then in a glorious electric overload, caused the entire machine to just explode.

Psychotic flew straight up through the falling debris, clearing the dust cloud and then pausing to survey the destruction with a sense of deep satisfaction.

_Now let's go find Flash. _


	5. Gossip

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Justice League/ JLU

**Pyschotic**

**Gossip**

It took Psychotic under ten seconds to get back to Maggie Lawrence's house, where the level of panic seemed to have picked up. Either Flash was being exceptionally scary or the explosion of their precious helicopter had unnerved them. Psychotic tried to filter through the melee and see if there was anyone who stood out from the mercenaries- with a teleporter in the helicopter she was under no illusions that whoever had been in the chopper when it blew hadn't gotten out. That would just be too lucky.

Still, they all seemed to be in retreat. While a few men hung back to keep Flash engaged, most of the rest were gathering what and who they could and legging it for the jeeps.

_I don't think so. _

Psychotic flew purposely towards the vehicles, gathering some magic to do something unpleasant.

_Keep it as efficient as possible will you? Psychotic seems a little tired, so we may be running out of juice…_

_Yeah, yeah. This shouldn't take much. _

Gathering a bolt, Psychotic was about to let loose when a whistling from the left caught her attention. She turned her head just in time to catch sight of the missile before it hit her in the side.

_Damn! Twice in one fight? How embarrassing. _

This time they had used an explosive missile. The force of the ammo punching into her knocked the breath right out of her, and before she could so much as gasp the whole thing just exploded into a huge ball of flame, launching her to the right, back into the neighbour's yard where she landed with another furrow in the earth, right next to the first one she'd made.

Psychotic groaned and sat up. Her shield was good, and while it protected her against the worst of the blunt force and against any of the fire and heat, it acted a bit too much like a Kevlar shirt than was entirely comfortable. Some of the blunt force made it through, albeit a lot less than otherwise, and she was going to have some spectacular bruises very shortly.

She blinked her eyes open to see Flash kneeling over her, concern etched into every feature. Psychotic jumped back in surprise, looking around to see if any of the enemy was still around.

"Are you alright?" Flash asked, reaching over to brush back her disheveled hair so he could get a good look to make sure she had no head wounds.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Pyschotic snapped back in her multi-toned voice. Well, she tried to snap. One of the voices came out irritated, the second was rather delighted, and the third was indifferent. It came as such a surprise that Jay snapped back into control while her other self burst into gales of laughter and Psychotic chuckled softly.

"You sure?" Flash asked, not entirely convinced.

"Uh, yeah, fine." Jay repeated, too bewildered to snap this time. "What happened to the…"

"The crazy ninja dudes?" Flash filled in.

"Were they ninjas?"

"They sure had the moves." Flash answered ruefully. "I don't know how they did it. They were fast. Not as fast as me, of course, but enough to make it tough."

"But where'd they go?" Jay asked.

"I don't know. They just all cleared off after they shot you. Again."

"You didn't stop them?"

"I came to make sure you were ok."

"I was fine the first time! You should have stopped them!"

"Well sue me for caring that you weren't dead!"

"You let them get away!"

"Jay, we weren't doing so great back there. They were getting away anyway."

"But - "

"No, Jay. Let's get back to the watchtower."

"We should at least see if they left anything!"

"They didn't."

"How can you be sure?"

"I am the fastest man alive. I searched. In five seconds."

"You must have missed something!"

"Jay!"

Jay looked up in surprise at the masterful tone Flash used. Masterful was not generally a word Jay would use in association with Flash, and to tell the truth it was quite… attractive.

_Ah! Ah! Ah ah ah ah ah! _

_Be silent Jay. This is not the time._

Jay ignored the voices in her head, as she let Flash help her to her feet. She surveyed the damage – half the neighbourhood was totaled. It reminded her of something she'd thought of during the fight.

"Where are all the people?" She asked.

Flash looked around, a frown on his face. "Some big company bought up this block, apparently they were going to tear it down and build something or other. Good thing, too."

"Which company?" Jay asked, something nagging in the back of her mind.

Flash just gave her a 'how-should-I-know' look. Jay shrugged.

"Maybe we should find out when we get back to the watchtower. May be relevant."

"Do whatever you like." Flash said. "_I_ am going to have a much-deserved dinner and then hit the sack."

Jay just grunted something non-committal as Flash called up to the Watchtower. Within minutes they were back in the control room, J'onn frowning down from the control deck.

"You shall be required to debrief us regarding your mission." J'onn called down before they'd even made it off the teleportation pad. Jay sighed as she channeled enough magic to float her up next to J'onn as Flash raced up. "Batman also has information for us. We shall meet in the meeting room in half an hour."

"Why not now?" Jay asked.

"What are you, masochistic?" Flash groaned. "J'onn, you need to give this girl a check up! She just took a beating and she still wants to have a meeting right now?"

"I did not just take a beating!" Jay protested indignantly. Flash just gave her a disbelieving look.

"We are waiting for Superman and Wonder Woman to return from a mission. Batman seems to think it is important for us all to be present."

Jay nodded thoughtfully. "Then I guess I'll go change and see you in half an hour. There's something very strange going on."

"Understatement of the year." Flash grumbled, receiving a glare from Jay for his efforts. J'onn just quirked a brow at the two of them and turned back to the console.

With one last snooty glare at Flash, Jay made her way out of the control room.

--

_Ok, please tell me it is now an appropriate time to discuss frissons, and attractively masterful looks, and various other stray thoughts?_

"I need to shower."

_You can't think and shower?_

_I must now take Jay's side, Jay. While I do not quite grasp this concept of 'gossip' it is curious to see you thinking of Flash with anything other than animosity._

"No. I hate Flash. Same old, nothing new here."

_And this 'frisson of awareness'? This speeding heart rate? You trying to tell me I'm imagining this stuff?_

"Yes."

_Back me up here, Psych._

_Truly Jay, while the other Jay may have the imagination to fabricate this, I do not. I distinctly recall the things to which Jay refers. _

"Just give up, you two. It's nothing."

_It doesn't _sound_ like nothing! _

"It is nothing. I don't like Flash, you both know this, so stop making stuff up when there's nothing there."

_Hmmm. I'm not buying this. _

_Buying what? There is nothing to buy here. _

_Psych, it's another of those slang phrases I keep telling you about. _

_I must point out that it makes no sense. _

_These things never do. Get used to it. _

_I dislike your tone Jay. _

_And I repeat: get used to it! _

Jay sighed in relief as the two voices really got into their latest squabble. She could always count on them to distract themselves, even from such an apparently juicy conversation. Keeping a lid on her thoughts was harder than she thought it would be, especially since –

No. She wasn't going to think about that sort of stuff.

With another sigh, she headed into the shower. A nap was probably in order before she headed up to the meeting. And if she was lucky, her two voices would occupy themselves until she could disappear into the oblivion of sleep.


End file.
